History

2018

  • Nu Plasma 3D arrives. Installed by Jamie X and Andy Burrows.
  • LASS lab moves to Cloud building from Marine Science Research building.

2016

  • Nu Plasma 3D purchased.

2015

  • Roberta Rudnick joins UCSB, obtaining funding for Nu Plasma 3D.
  • Initial design of new LASS facility to be built in the Cloud Building.

2014

  • Second Photon Machines 193 nm excimer laser delivered; installed by John Roy.

2013

  • LASS technique paper: Kylander-Clark et al., Chemical Geology, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2013.02.019.
  • New ES (enhanced sensitivity) interface installed on Plasma HR.
  • First data from enhanced sensitivity interface: Cottle et al., JAAS, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C3JA50216.
  • John Cottle obtains funding for quadrupole ICP-MS, facilitated largely by Department Chair Doug Burbank and Dean Pierre Wiltzius.
  • Agilent 7700x quadrupole ICP-MS installed with extra roughing pump.

2012

2011

2010

  • Kylander perfects split-stream technique (LASS) using Plasma HR and AttoM.
  • HelEx cell is delivered and installed by Photon Machines on both lasers.

2009

  • February 9th, Nu AttoM #007 is delivered and installed by Nu Engineer Greg Biddulph.
  • February 12th, Nu Plasma HR #069 is delivered and assembled by Lee Griffiths of Ion Flight. March 2nd, Plasma is installed by Nu Engineer Scott Brereton.
  • April 2nd, Photon Machines 198fs laser delivered, the first of its kind. April 13th, laser is installed by Jamie Barbula of Photon Machines.
  • October 13th, Photon Machines 193 nm excimer laser delivered; installed by John Roy.
  • First LASS analyses.

2008

  • Andrew Kylander-Clark, experienced in U-Pb TIMS and Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd ICP-MS measurements, joins UCSB. He and Howard Berg work to outfit the facility and ensure that the room renovation exceeds the site installation requirements.
  • John Cottle joins UCSB; completes post-doctoral work at NIGL in the UK, specializing in ICP-MS measurements.
  • June 31st. Hacker, Cottle, Kylander-Clark visit Nu Instruments in Wrexham, UK.

2007

  • The University of California, Santa Barbara, motivated largely by Department Chair Bruce Luyendyk and Dean Steve Gaines, agrees to finance the facility.
  • Renovation of rooms 1010 and 1008 in the Marine Science Research Building begins under the guidance of Ed Blaschke and Dave Davis.
  • Nu Instruments (including Photon Machines) and Thermo Fisher Scientific + New Wave submit bids to provide the ICPs and laser. After discussions with colleagues and vendors, the contracts are awarded to Nu Instruments, for a Nu Plasma HR multi-collector ICP-MS, a Nu AttoM single-collector ICP-MS, and a Photon Machines femtosecond laser. The detector array in the Nu Plasma is optimized for zircon dating, but also suitable for Sr, Nd, Lu-Hf, etc.

2006

  • Bradley Hacker draws up a plan to build the LASS facility using a multi-collector ICP-MS and a single-collector ICP-MS coupled to a laser.